


Our Time

by melikaioke



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melikaioke/pseuds/melikaioke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Season Finale. Neal and Leanne can finally have what they couldn't, its finally their time. -Also little birthday present for my winsome-witch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Time

_“It means you are the breath of my life.”_

_Grace had told him about what her patient, and how their husband's vows had displayed this type of feeling, one you only got once in a lifetime. She knew she wasn't meant for Neal, she knew Christa wasn't either. She had known it after a few months dating, and she as more than sure Christa realized it as well. But Neal, it had taken him well over ten years to realize it, she just hoped it wasn't too late._

_“You deserve happiness Neal, and so does she...I know I wasn't yours, not entirely. But she is, and she deserves to know that.”_

_He could only agree, besides Leanne, Grace knew him. And she knew who his heart belonged to, he silently thanked her by placing a soft kiss to her cheek and turning on his heels to leave the hospital._

\--

He soon found himself standing in Leanne's driveway. Was he an idiot? What made him think, after one slightly intoxicated night, on both their parts that she would want him to confess his love now. He had tried his best to get rid of how she made him feel. How he lost his mind before that night just being around her. How he desperately tried to make things work with Grace, but only seeing Leanne. 

How he stupidly tried to get lost with Christa, but instead falling back into the same pattern of only wanting and seeing Leanne. But a heart wants what a heart wants, and instead of trying to push his feelings away this time, he was going to act on them. 

Gathering his courage he continued to walk down the pathway. When he got up to her door he swallowed the lump in his throat and then knocked. Too softly at first, and then probably too forcefully the second time. 

Neal stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. After a moment of nothing he nodded and started to turn on his heel. But the click of the lock caused him to stop, the sound of the door opening and revealing a concerned Leanne made him stay planted in his spot. 

“What are you doing here? Is everything alright?” 

Neal nodded and gave her a sheepish smile. 

“I...uhm. Wanted to see if we could talk?” 

Tilting her head in confusion she nodded and stepped aside for him to come into her home. It was like he remembered, for he had only been in her home that one time. Leanne was naturally a private person, even when her family was alive she kept work and home life separate. But nothing had changed after all those years. The bookshelf was probably more full than before, but other than that everything seemed to be stopped in time.  
Leanne shut the front door after him, and out of habit locked the door. Turning she shoved her hands in her pockets and shrugged lightly. Her and Neal had a good work relationship, it was easy. When he was first learning it was easy, it wasn’t like a teacher and student relationship, and that was what got her in trouble in the first place. It was one night, ten years ago. A function for the hospital, one that her husband hadn’t been able to attend due to a conference for work. The kids were young, so by the time she took them over to their grandparents house they were already down for the night. She couldn’t miss a function like this, after all she was the Residency Director, people would notice if she was absent. 

She had a bit too drink, and so did he. Leanne found out that his apartment was in a close proximity to her house, so instead of them getting two cabs from the hall they shared one. She learned a lot about him that car ride to her home. How he liked classical music, due to his mother. How he had always wanted to work in emergency medicine, but was persuaded in the direction of surgery due to his father. His favorite color is blue, favorite movie was Black Hawk Down, he only would drink hot coffee, not the fancy drinks that they tried to get you to buy at Starbucks. He enjoyed ‘smores, and his favorite flavor of ice cream was strawberry. 

It was one night, ten years ago that stuck with her till this day. She could remember the way his hair was ruffled after she ran her hands through it. How his voice was low, and sounded like a musk of cologne that you couldn’t get rid of. How his hands were soft against her skin, and in her hair. 

Leanne stepped back a bit, concern still written on her face. 

“Neal, what is the matter?”

It wasn’t like him to come to her home, much less at this hour. He usually just called and they would meet at the coffee shop a few blocks away, or sometimes they would even just talk on the phone. But something was different. He looked tired, and she realized that she really hadn’t seen him in the past week. Yes, they worked the same schedules, but when she was working in her office or in Center stage he was either going into surgery or coming out of one. It wasn’t a pattern she cared for, she missed him out on the floor. 

He licked his lips and drew in a deep breath, he slowly let it out as he looked over at her. She was just as beautiful today as she was that night. But did that matter to her? It was so long ago, how in the world could she still have feelings for that? Especially after all that has happened in those ten years. 

“I…” he bit the inside of his lip, he just needed to do it. “You may think I’m crazy, and push me away, but I can not keep this inside any longer, Leanne.”

Her frown dropped, and her brow rose. Instead of protesting, stopping whatever he was going to say she leaned against the wall in the front hallway. He didn’t move closer, he kept his distance. 

“Grace...Christa.” He shrugged, he moved his hands over each other. “I didn’t love them, I tried to though. I thought I could get rid of the way you make me feel by being with them. But it never worked..”  
A breath hitched in her throat, _the way you make me feel_. She licked her lips, after all these years, after all those sleepless nights working, getting coffee in the lounge, eating cold breakfast burritos behind the nurses station. She felt the emotions come back, the ones that she had tried so hard to hide from herself, from her husband and from Neal. 

“It wasn’t just that one night after the gala, it was all the nights before it, and all the nights afterwards. It was getting breakfast after shift, getting coffee on the corner on our days off. It was you teaching me how to be a better doctor and an even better man. It was how you laughed, or when you would read quietly, thinking no one was watching you.” 

Leanne’s lips parted, her eyes starting to water as she finally saw just how much he had been paying attention. 

“It was when you let me be there for you after you lost your family, And how much closer we got after that, how you let me into that part of your soul..”

Neal shook his head slightly, he saw the tears in her eyes and he moved closer. Hesitant at first, but when she didn’t pull away he knew. He placed his hand softly at the curve of her neck, her eyes shutting at the feeling that she hadn’t lost. 

“I searched for you in them, in anyone that I tried to be with. I didn’t want them, I wanted you. I wanted your touch, your kiss, your laugh..”

Leanne’s hands moved up his sides, resting lightly at his waist. She let a tear slip from the corner of her eyes, her body leaning more towards him. 

“I love you.”

Neal leaned up at her words, he raised his brow slightly. Leanne opened her eyes and tilted her head, a smile tugging at her lips as she let the last ten years out in the open. 

“I tried to push it away too, I tried to be a good wife and mother...a good person.” 

She shook her head, she felt guilty, loving him when she had her family, she even felt guilty afterwards. And every time she wanted to reach out to him, to let her comfort her she only felt what she couldn’t have. Neal shook his head, leaning his forehead against her own. 

“You are a good person…” He leaned down further and placed a soft kiss to her lips, he could hear her hum, a sound he never let go of. 

Leanne leaned to him, her hands gripping at his t-shirt. Her eyes slipping closed and shutting tight as she let her head spin. It was as if there had been no space between the time they had shared and now. When he parted she gasped softly, her head going to his chest as he enveloped her into his arms. He knew the guilt, he had it too. How could he love another man’s wife? It wasn’t right...but sometimes the world and your heart played cruel tricks on you. 

Neal rested his chin on her shoulder, his hands flat against her back keeping her close, as if she was going to disappear all of a sudden. 

“We don’t have to feel guilty anymore, this is our time now Leanne…”

She smiled softly and nodded against his chest, her hands going behind his back and flattening. Yes, she thought. It was finally their time. Their time to make up for the past ten years.


End file.
